Protect your tables from your tools and learn how to give new life to cherished garden tools.

# Tool Chest Surface Protectors

Usually, you think of using surface protectors for chairs, tables or a chest of drawers. If you haven’t heard of surface protectors, you’re really missing out on the many uses for these protectors.

These ingenious devices help protect your floors from scratches and scrapes created when chairs and tables are moved over the floors from day-to-day use.

They’re also used for protecting your furniture from objects that have a rough underside.

But what if you have a big, heavy metal toolbox or tool chest that you can’t move or place on a table without fearing you’ll scratch the surface?

Rather than leaving the tool chest in the basement and making endless trips up and down the stairs to retrieve your tools, try applying an “EZ Glide” or similar surface protector to each corner of the tool chest.

These types of glides are self-adhesive dots with a felt pad on one side and a sticky adhesive on the other side.

Once you’ve applied the surface protectors, you can then place the chest on a tabletop where you’re working or just on the floor next to your home-repair project, and you won’t risk scratching any surfaces in your home.

# Garden Tool Handle Repair

Every serious gardener has his or her favorite tools that they wouldn’t dream of parting with. It may be a spade that belonged to one’s father or a pair of antique Japanese scissors that effectively cuts flowers for flower arranging.

But sometimes the handle on that cherished tool becomes worn down from use and too smooth, making it difficult to grip with your hands or a garden glove.

Or, you may have a handle on a favorite hoe that has split and cracked from age, making the tool next to impossible to use.

Rather than throwing useful tools like these away, you can easily improve your grip by wrapping the handles of the tools tightly with electrical tape.

This sticky tape is most often used by electricians when they are bundling wires or wrapping electrical connections to keep moisture out.

It’s important when wrapping the tape around the handles that you don’t create any tucks or folds in the tape.

These folds can prevent you from achieving a tight grip on the handles of your tools.

Once the handles are wrapped, you’ll find that you’ll be able to hang onto your cherished tools longer and tighter.